


Three-Quarters Curiosity

by Sans_Virtuosity



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: (third grader voice) He loves her he loves her!, Background Hau/Lillie, Background Ilima/Kiawe, Characters Are In Their Twenties, Christmas Party, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Not Beta Read, Past Relationship(s), Romance, Teen for language, a lot of talking and being long-winded because I cannot be stopped, adding more characters as I post chapters, also, as always, characters being genre-savvy, lonashipping, mahinashipping, not edited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 16:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13150707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sans_Virtuosity/pseuds/Sans_Virtuosity
Summary: Hau is throwing a Christmas party, and everyone's invited.Unfortunately for Moon, included in that 'everyone' is her ex, Ilima, who she hasn't spoken to in years. Instead of just letting bygones be bygones, Moon opts for petty revenge.By getting fake-engaged to her best friend, who may or may not be desperately in love with her.





	Three-Quarters Curiosity

**Author's Note:**

> Christmas implies a Christ, which implies the existence of Jesus, which implies that Jesus is canon in the Pokemon world. I can't believe this. I'm not even religious.
> 
> "Love is three-quarters curiosity." - Giacomo Casanova

* * *

 

 

“Gladion, I need your help.”

Moon was pacing back and forth across Gladion’s office, stopping at one bookshelf and then turning on her heel to walk back to the other. She couldn’t stand still. A plan was brewing in her mind, and she needed to get Gladion on her side in order for it to work. She glanced over to his desk where he sat expressionless, scrolling through a tablet displaying what looked to be a spreadsheet dense with figures.

“Is that right?” he asked noncommittally, noting her pacing from the corner of his eye.

“You’re the only one who can help me, seriously.” Moon insisted, gesturing towards him in with a dramatic sweep of her arm. “It has to be you.”

The look on his face changed, and he perked up at her words. He placed the tablet down and held her gaze for the first time since she arrived. Moon’s appeal to his pride worked, and she had to hold back a triumphant smile. Gladion folded his hands in front of him with a businesslike charm, and raised an eyebrow her way.

The ocean beyond his office windows cast dancing streams of light all throughout the room, and it made Moon feel like she was underwater. Gladion looked almost predatory, like a Huntail ready to strike. She found herself wishing she had a camera. It would make for the perfect office portrait.

“Go on.”

Moon slid into one of the plush armchairs across from Gladion’s desk, and straightened up like she was there for official business.

“Hau’s hosting a Christmas party next weekend, and I need you to-” he rolled his eyes and made to pick up the tablet again, but before he could escape, Moon slapped her hand down on his desk, capturing his attention. Despite trying to sound confident, her words awkwardly tumbled out of her mouth in her haste, “I need you to be my fiancé.”

Gladion’s hand froze in mid-air, hovering over the tablet. A series of inscrutable looks passed over his face until settling on abject confusion. He pulled his hand back slowly, deliberately, and swiveled around in his chair to face the windows and the calm of the ocean beyond. For a while he said nothing, his back to her. Moon worried that maybe she broke him. It wasn’t every day that someone just walks into your office to propose to you, after all.

“Why?” he finally asked, a breathless chuckle escaping along with it.

“For the Christmas party. Ilima’s going to be there.” Moon said vaguely, as though that explained anything at all.

Gladion swiveled back around, fixing her with a hard glare.

“You’re asking me to pretend to be your fiancé to make your ex jealous?” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, but a slow smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “This is like a bad romcom, you know. Next thing you know, we’ll be snowed into a cabin and forced to share a bed. You’re asking for a lot.”

Moon didn’t miss a beat.

“Oh come on, like you’d mind.” She laughed, and they shared a playful look. But now was certainly not the time to be flirting. She had a plan. Moon waved a hand in the air to dispel the potential distraction and continued, “But that’s not the point. You’re the only one who can pull this off. Ilima’s seen us together. It’s believable enough to make it worth it.”

Gladion rubbed his chin thoughtfully and swiveled back and forth in his chair. Moon knew she was asking for a lot, but the satisfaction of seeing Ilima confused or upset would make it worth it. Hopefully Gladion felt the same way.

A few years back, Moon and Ilima’s parents set them up on an impromptu blind date that went surprisingly well, and lead to them trying to date seriously. It was an incredibly soft and comfortable relationship. Ilima never asked more of her than she was willing to give, and he was free with his affection when she wanted it. She really enjoyed getting involved with his work at the Trainer’s School, too. In another life, maybe Moon could have become a teacher.

Moon and Ilima lasted a good six months before he left her for Kiawe without any explanation or forewarning. The loss still stung her even now. She hadn’t said a word to him since, though she managed to keep in close contact with Kiawe. Kiawe had offered her no explanation either, for at the time he didn’t even know that Moon and Ilima were together at all.Water under the bridge, or so the saying goes.

At least, that’s what Moon wanted to say. In reality, the moment the opportunity for petty revenge came up, she jumped at it. If she could get Gladion to join in on her plan, she would be unstoppable. Ilima could see her happy with someone else, see the person that Moon’s become in his absence. The person that moved on and learned to love someone else, and absolutely didn’t stay hung up on years-old heartbreak.

Gladion suddenly laughed, and Moon’s gaze snapped up to meet his, irrationally terrified that he’d somehow read her mind. He smiled widely, and crossed his arms in some sort of smug triumph.

He nodded twice in succession, and said, “I’ll do it. Just the possibility of Ilima saying something to me about our ‘relationship’ is getting me excited. I still have some choice words for that guy after what happened between you two. This is the perfect opportunity.”

“You’ll be my fiancé?”

“Stop saying it like that. But yeah, I’m in.” He leaned back in his chair, looking self-satisfied, all thoughts of going back to his work clearly abandoned. “What’s the plan? What do we need? I can get you a ring, if that’ll make it more believable. I refuse to do matching couples’ outfits, though. That’s too far even for me. How formal is this party anyways?”

Moon held up her hands in self-defense, “Wow, slow down. This is a Hau party, remember? It’ll be extremely casual. There’s going to be a gift exchange, and knowing him, he’ll probably set up a few Pokemon battles if not a full-blown tournament. And yeah, the ring is a great idea. I’ll be able to make a point of showing it off to everyone.”

“You’re not concerned that everyone’s going to get the wrong idea?” he asked, eyebrow raised. For all his confidence and casual humor at the idea, his face was just barely showing the hint of a blush. If he kept  _that_ up during the party, there would be no disputing that he felt something for her. “We’ll have to deal with that, afterward. If you’re asking me to actually legally marry you to commit to the joke, I’m going to have to decline.”

“We’ll deal with that when we get there. It won’t be too big of a deal if our engagement suddenly gets broken off after the party, right? They’ve all seen how we can fight.” Another playful look passed between them, and Moon had to struggle to contain her giddiness. “Oh, we should probably tell Lillie and Hau the plan, though. I don’t want Lillie to have a heart attack or anything.”

“Hau would probably cry, he’d be so happy. He’s always been way too invested in my relationship status. It’s unhealthy.”

This was an old conversation between them. Moon sighed, “No one wants you dying alone under the porch, Glad. I’m worried sometimes, too.”

Gladion coughed awkwardly into his hand and turned his attention back to the tablet on his desk. He clicked it back on and made a few quick notes. Moon couldn’t see what he wrote from where he was.

“Okay, so, a ring.” He said, tapping away at the screen. “That’s the first step. Should I get one, too? Do men usually wear engagement rings?”

“Seeing as I’ve never been engaged, I have no idea.”

“See? You’re just as romantically hopeless as I am. How can you tease me with such confidence, you old maid?”

“I’m not teasing!” Moon laughed. “I’m genuinely worried about you. It’d be different if you’d ever actually tried dating once in a while.”

“I’m… waiting for the right person.” He said, unconvincingly. When Moon raised an eyebrow up at him, he avoided her gaze and clarified, “And the right timing. I’m busy with work; I’d feel terrible for anyone who had to deal with this every day.”

“We always manage to make time for each other, though.” She pointed out, and Gladion stilled, a shocked expression momentarily overtaking his features.

Moon always knew their friendship existed on borrowed time. Both of their jobs were extremely demanding, and it was hard enough to see each other on the weekends. Often, just like tonight, he still had work he needed to finish, and their meetups end up amounting to simply sitting in the same room with one another. Once they had families of their own, it would be so much harder to make time for one another.

The sooner he realized it too, the sooner she could begin cauterizing that wound. And the sooner that Hau could happily cry over Gladion’s newfound romantic initiative.

Gladion clicked his tongue, dispelling Moon’s growing unease and pulling her back into the present.

“That’s different.” He said, rolling his eyes. When Moon said nothing, he continued, a little more forcefully, “It just _is_. Anyways, it’s not our current problem. We’re getting fake married, Moon. Should I get myself a ring or not?”

That startled a laugh out of her, and Gladion smiled at the sound of it.

“Go for it. That way, if he comes to you first, you can show it off yourself. Start the mystery, you know? Talk about how great your fiancée is, how beautiful and charming and strong…”

“Alright, alright. I get it. Then when he sees your ring, he’ll connect the dots, right? It’s devious. You wouldn’t even have to say a word.”

They shared a conspiratorial look, before Gladion’s gaze slipped off into the distance and Moon could see he was lost in thought. He folded his hands with deliberate slowness and brought them to his face, covering his mouth. His brows drew into a tight grimace, and a sharp curiosity jolted through Moon’s entire body. She couldn’t hold back.

“What are you thinking? Is it awful?”

“No,” he mumbled through his hands, “I just think that everyone’s going to expect us to act a little more… you know, affectionate.” He leaned back into his chair and awkwardly scratched his neck. “I’m not unwilling, I just… wanted to know your thoughts first.”

Moon felt her face run hot, and she looked away. Anywhere but directly at him.

It was no secret that she and Gladion often flirted shamelessly, but they’d never seriously considered acting on it. It was an unspoken rule between them. Neither of them wanted to disrupt the carefully-cultivated friendship that took years to solidify.

To do it for a joke seemed to just throw all that out of the window. It was against the rules.

But Gladion said he was alright with it, and a part of Moon wanted to agree. But another part was afraid that this could be the catalyst that changed the fragile thing they had between them, and drove them apart. Maybe he’d realize how badly he actually wanted to be in a real relationship, and begin calling off their hang-outs in favor of trying to find someone to spend his life with. It was so risky.

But Moon was dangerously, insatiably curious about what a mock-relationship with Gladion would be like. Could they even be physically affectionate? Could they get past their playful flirting without dissolving into laughter? It was hard to reconcile their teasing personalities with anything that even remotely resembled romantic intimacy. This was _Gladion_ , for Arceus’ sake.

Tentatively, Moon suggested, “As long as we agree that it won’t change anything between us-”

“It won’t.” He dropped his hands into his lap and stared down at them. To himself, he firmly repeated, “ _It won’t_.”

Moon felt her heart clench unexpectedly at the finality of his words, and she reflexively stretched out her arms high above her head in order to get her blood flowing again. _No use dwelling on it_ , she thought.

“Alright, then. It’s settled.” She said, popping her joints one by one. “You’ll take care of the rings, right? The only thing left is coming up with a plausible proposal story.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You know someone’s going to ask, and I want us to be on the same page when they do.”

“We can just be honest,” he barked a laugh. “You proposed to me here on the Paradise, in my office. Entirely sudden and unprovoked.”

She snorted and pulled her legs up onto the chair and into her chest. She leaned her head down on her knees. “I mean, you’re not wrong. But no, if we’re crafting this for Ilima, I need it to be flawlessly romantic. Something that would make him wish he’d thought of it first.”

“Alright, then…” he trailed off and closed his eyes. He leaned back into his chair and slowly rotated from side-to-side as he considered his story. “What would I do? … Wow, what  _would_ I do? It’s a damn good thing I’m not seeing anyone. I’m drawing a complete blank.”

“Something out of an awful teen novel.”

“Alright, that’s an easier parameter to work with.” He put his elbow on the desk and leaned his chin into his hand, his eyes closed, and he was lost in his story. “So I leave a trail of sticky notes leading you to my office, right? So I can plan everything in secret while you’re off on an adventure. They’ll take you all over to the places most important to us. When you get to the office, I’m waiting with flowers. Roses. And then I take you out on my boat, and we have dinner on the ocean, underneath the stars. Just the two of us… and I ask you to marry me.”

Moon ‘hmm’d and narrowed her eyes at him. “Sticky notes? That’s a little cliche, isn’t it?”

Gladion opened his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, satisfied with his story, “I think it could make for a compelling narrative.”

They lapsed into a contemplative silence, with Moon turning the story around in her mind. It wasn’t bad. Sufficiently romantic for her purposes, too. For a moment she imagined what that proposal would’ve been like, and how she would have responded. Positively. Extremely positively. She’d probably cry after all was said and done.

And then she realized, “Is that something you’d actually consider doing in reality?”

He shrugged again, staring down at his desk with an inscrutable look on his face. “I just figured it would be something you’d appreciate. I’m proposing to you in this story, after all.”

For a moment neither of them said anything, the _thing_ between them growing heavy.

And then Moon stood up and broke the tension, and Gladion reflexively stood up with her.

“Now that that’s all figured out, I should really get going. It’s getting late.” She said, awkwardness splintering her voice.

“I’ll take care of the rings.” He confirmed again, and walked around his desk to lead her out of his office, sudden relief in every step. “Text me the details of where we’re meeting and when. I’d assume it’s in Iki Town, at the very least?”

“Yeah,” She said, letting him walk her to the doorway. “It’s starting at Hau’s place, and it’ll probably spill out into the town center like it always does.” She turned to him, and gave him a smile that was more confident than she felt. “Thank you for doing this, Glad. I can’t wait to see Ilima’s reaction.”

“Ilima?” he asked under his breath, his brows drawing together for a moment before he caught himself. “Right. Ilima. Yeah, it’ll be great. I’ll tell Lillie about our plan tonight. Can you talk to Hau for me? I don’t think I can handle his comments right now.”

Moon gave him a sympathetic smile, and nodded. “I’ll take care of it. I guess I’ll see you at the party, then?”

“Yeah.”

They stood in the doorway, a new energy buzzing between them. A new tension. Neither of them moved. There was so much left unsaid between them. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, after all.

Moon turned to say something to him, to reassure them both that nothing would change between them, and in that moment Gladion leaned in and captured her lips with his own.

The kiss was unexpected, and inexperienced, but not entirely unpleasant. It was just a single glide of his lips over hers, and it was over all too quickly.

His lips were softer than she’d imagined. Not that she’d ever dared to imagine it. This was _Gladion_.

When he pulled away, he grimaced, and rushed to apologize.

“Sorry. Practice. I wanted to see if we could do it. If _I_ could-”

“No, no, that’s alright. I understand completely. I was thinking the same thing earlier.” She laughed, dazed, nervousness bubbling up from deep within her chest. But to her dismay, she couldn’t turn off the part of her brain that loved to tease him, and she mentally slapped herself when she said, “But maybe once more for good measure? I wasn’t ready that time.”

And with that, Moon was entirely convinced that no matter _what_ happened during the party, things between them could never be the same.

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god I didn't edit this at all I'm so sorry about pacing and everything.  
> I'm going to try and post 'Part 2: The Party' as soon as possible. It'll definitely be up by New Years, I can promise that!


End file.
